Vandals cause damage inside gym

One or more vandals broke into Castaic Middle School’s gymnasium early Thursday and set off fire extinguishers, causing more than $1,000 in damage, school officials said.

“It’s quite a mess to clean up,” said Jaime Garcia, director of facilities for the Castaic Union School District.

About 2 a.m. Thursday, someone got into the school gym and sprayed the fire extinguishers inside. Grabbing the extinguishers set off a fire alarm, which Garcia said likely frightened off whoever it was.

The vandals broke in after the spring semester ended, but before a limited summer session is set to begin. The school district rents the gym to other organizations in the community.

Garcia said at least one group had to cancel an event as officials clean up the chemical mess and investigate how the vandals got in.

“It takes a lot of personnel time to get into these matters,” Garcia said. “We’re checking doors and making sure we don’t have any other types of vandalism or corrective measures we need to start implementing.”